NYS Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Alleging Voter Fraud in Upstate Village
By: Ellen Cans
A New York State judge dismissed a lawsuit alleging voter fraud in a small village in the Catskills, named Fleischmanns. The case, however, is now being investigated by law enforcement agencies.
The lawsuit alleged that in a March 15 Fleischmanns election for two trustee seats, there were many votes cast illegally by voters who didn’t live in the village or had hotels listed as the address. As reported by the NY Post, Judge Brian Burns wrote in his May 26 decision that the lawsuit was being dismissed based mostly on a technicality. Despite dismissing the case, Burns wrote, “The court notes that petitioner’s allegations of election fraud are serious in nature and does not lightly dismiss their petition”. The judge wrote, “Although the New York elections law, under these particular circumstances, does not allow for a full review of the allegations in the civil court, it appears that the allegations are being actively investigated by various law enforcement agencies.”
The suit, which was brought forth by two candidates who lost the election– Elizabeth Hughes and Daniel Halpren, alleged that a Jewish group was trying to fraudulently “take control” of Fleischmanns’ government, so that it could get zoning and development permits passed for their projects. The judge asked that the candidates who won that election— Aaron Goldring and Yesmin Sarabia — be removed from office until the conclusion of a thorough investigation. The judge acceded, however, that such a request “fell outside this court’s authority”, saying that only the Attorney General has the authority to remove elected officials from office.
“We are more optimistic now than ever that these agencies will act to protect our fundamental democratic rights and prosecute those responsible for the crimes of false registration, illegal voting, and other crimes so that this does not happen ever again in New York state,” lawyer Daniel Belzil, who filed the suit, said in a statement. “Judge Burns clearly appreciated the seriousness of what happened in our Village and “put the ball in the court” of County and state agencies to investigate,” Belzil added.
A spokesperson for the NY AG’s office confirmed with the Post that, “it was looking into the matter” of the Fleischmanns village election.
